No Yogurt for the Dead – Tiago Rodrigues

In No Yogurt for the Dead, Tiago Rodrigues, artistic director of the Festival d’Avignon, is inspired by a true story about his father. Rogério Rodrigues, a respected Portuguese journalist, began writing a newspaper article during his last days in hospital. Every day, his father wrote in his notebook to prepare this text about his experiences as a terminally ill patient. Both Tiago and his father knew that this would be his last article. 
After his father’s death, Tiago Rodrigues opened the notebook. It contained only a few lines and dots, some scribbles, like the abstract drawings of a child. Now, Tiago Rodrigues wants to imagine the unwritten pages of his father’s last work. Mixing memories, songs and fragments of his father’s writings, he creates a show that aims to be a small victory over death. 
In this play, each scene is a playful variation on the theme of farewell. The stage forms a surreal landscape where hospital beds glide over an icy sea, as a metaphor for the turmoil of life. Music and poetry are the grammar of a theater that finds reasons for joy even in the saddest stories. 

Artistic director of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II between 2015 and 2021, Tiago Rodrigues is currently director of the Avignon Festival. Known for his dramaturgy, which breaks down barriers between theater and multiple realities, and for his work as a director, his repertoire includes plays such as By Heart, Catarina e a Beleza de Matar Fascistas and Hécube, pas Hécube, among others.